Little Fighter 2 The Next Generation
by eplipswich
Summary: The Next Generation of little fighters are here to save the day, featuring original LF2 and new and unseen characters. Starring Davis and Dennis.
1. Chapter 1: The Early Memories

**Chapter 1: The Early Memories**

"Wake up Davis!" Dennis was yelling at his elder brother, Davis, and shaking him who is still on the bed.

"What?" Davis checked his alarm clock. "Oh my God! It's 9am! We're late!" Apparently for the first time in a long while his alarm clock did not ring. "Why didn't you wake me up earlier?"

"I sleep next to you, so I use the same alarm clock as you, dumbo!"

"Why didn't you tell me to set the alarm clock last night?"

"Hey! I'm not responsible for the alarm clock. You are!"

"Still you should have reminded me to set the alarm clock!"

"How would I know? I thought you already did! Anyway you're lucky I managed to wake up first. Otherwise we will be ultra late."

"Oh my God!" Davis cried. "Why are we still arguing? If we don't hurry, we will be ultra late!" Davis dashed into the bathroom and closed the doors behind him.

"Hey! I'm supposed to be in the bathroom first!"

"Oh shut up Dennis! Go hurry up, brush your teeth and wash your face in the bathroom in the kitchen."

"How should I do that when my toothbrush and towel are in this bathroom??"

Davis opened the bathroom doors and toss Dennis' towel and toothbrush towards Dennis. "Now go!"

"What about toothpaste?"

"Use our mum's toothpaste in the master bedroom's bathroom."

"Squeeze some toothpaste onto my toothbrush. I'm lazy to go there."

"NO! Go get toothpaste there!!"

With that, Davis and Dennis rushed their daily morning routine and within a minute, they are in the kitchen. Their mum, Mrs. Sire, was there.

"Hurry up, my sons. It will be embarrassing if you don't make it in time."

"We got it, mum." Davis grabbed a toast which Mrs. Sire had prepared and stuffed the whole toast into his mouth.

"By the way, mum," Davis talked with his mouth full. "Why didn't you wake us up when you knew we were so late?"

"Sigh…" Mrs. Sire exclaimed. "You all are grownups. Surely I expect you guys to wake up on your own and not me calling you guys to rise and shine right?"

"You're right, mum," Dennis remarked, getting a toast for himself as well. "Guess we better get on our way then. Later, mum!"

"Yeah see you later mum!" Davis called at Mrs. Sire, still with his mouth full as he grabbed his belongings and run towards the front door together with Dennis.

"Don't forget to call home if any need arrives!" Mrs. Sire called back at them as they head out into the morning sunshine.

As Davis and Dennis ran towards where their school was, Davis said, still with his mouth full but slowly chewing, "Come on Dennis. We are already late by an hour. We gotta run faster!!"

"What the hell did you just say?" Dennis replied. Because Davis was talking with his mouth full, to Dennis it sounded like, "Chrome o Drennis. Wre rer alrardy rate bry arn hrour. Wre grotha run fraster!!"

"Run!!" Davis cried, with a chunk of the toast swallowed so it sounds better.

Finally they reached the front gate of CUHK (Chinese University of Hong Kong), the place where they study in. Davis looked at his watch. It's 9.30am.

"Oh my God! We took 30 minutes to reach school from home! Why did we take so long? It's all your fault, Dennis! You run so slow!"

"What? Don't we always take around this time to reach school?"

"But that's via walking, dumbo!"

"What's with all the fuss?" came a booming voice.

Davis and Dennis jumped at the sound of the voice. They turned to come face-to-face with the principal…

Mr. Gerry McClester was the principal of CUHK. He was the father of Woody, Davis and Dennis' best friend, but he did not just treat Woody well. He treated every student of CUHK equally as well as he hardly punished any student. When a student did something wrong, instead of shouting out of control and sending him to harsh punishment, he would usually have a talk with the student and tell him what was right and wrong nicely and in a loud and calm tone. Every student of CUHK liked him very much.

But this was the first time Davis and Dennis were late, and the two brothers did not remember any student being late. They were thinking that they might be punished by Mr. Gerry.

"Oh, so it's Davis and Dennis," Mr. Gerry remarked. "I'm sure you know what time is it now?" Mr. Gerry looked at them in a strict way.

"Um…er...W-We woke up late," Davis and Dennis stammered. From the strict look on Mr. Gerry's face, Mr. Gerry seemed disappointed.

"You two are late indeed. I don't like to punish students, but being late is something I don't usually accept."

"Uh-oh," both Davis and Dennis thought. "Does this mean he is gonna punish us? Hard? Oh no…what have we done…?"

As Davis and Dennis prepared to hear the worst, Mr. Gerry said, "But since this is the first time you are late, and you are two of the heroes who founded the Tai Hom Martial Arts School, I'll be kind enough to let you off."

Davis and Dennis could not believe what they just heard. "Wow," both brothers exclaimed in their minds. "Mr. Gerry did not punish us even though we are late. He really is a great principal."

"Thank you, Mr. Gerry!" Davis and Dennis heaved a sigh of relief.

"But the next time you two are late again," Mr. Gerry warned. "You know the consequences."

"We won't do it again, Mr. Gerry," Davis told Mr. Gerry.

"Yeah, Mr. Gerry. It's a promise," Dennis agreed.

"Make sure you two don't. I don't want to see you in this kind of situation again okay?"

Davis and Dennis nodded.

"Now go to your classes," Mr. Gerry instructed. "You wouldn't want to miss more lessons, do you?"

With that, Davis and Dennis ran towards their classroom for lessons…

"And please swallow your food before entering your classroom, Davis!" Mr. Gerry called out.

Oops…was the word that appeared in Davis' mind…

Davis, Dennis and Woody met up with each other during recess time.

"You two are really lucky," Woody remarked. "If it had not been the fact that my father is the principal of CUHK, you think you would be so lucky?"

"Well," Davis replied. "It's not like we intentionally want to be late. It's thanks to the stupid alarm clock..." Davis thought for a while. "…And Dennis."

"Hey!" Dennis pinched at Davis' arm, which to Davis did not seem painful at all. "What has it got to do with me? I'm not the alarm clock!"

"You should have checked the alarm clock when I did not do so."

"Well why didn't you check the alarm clock then?"

"I was too sleepy."

"Yeah, right. And who was the one who slept later than me last night?"

"Ok chill you two," Woody interrupted. "It doesn't matter now anymore, right? Just don't be late again."

Davis and Dennis stopped almost immediately.

"Anyway," Woody began, starting a new conversation. "I'll be helping you guys out at the Tai Hom Martial Arts School after school."

"Yeah that would be great," Davis said. "We really appreciate all the help we can get. Thanks Woody."

"Yeah thanks a lot Woody," Dennis agreed.

"It's no big deal," Woody told them as he made his way back to his classroom. "What are friends for? Ok I'll see you all later then."

After some seconds of silence, Dennis broke the silence.

"Hey, Davis. Can I ask you something?"

"Sure. Shoot it."

"Do you remember back in the time when we fought alongside Woody and our other great friends? We called ourselves Little Fighter and we had so much fun fighting against the villains!"

"No, it ain't fun Dennis…" Davis groaned. "But what makes you reminded of the past?"

"Well Woody reminded me back to that time," Dennis replied. "And you too. I miss my friends…especially Firen and Freeze."

"I miss them too," Davis patted Dennis' shoulder. "Maybe some day we will reunite again."

In Davis' mind, Davis recalled back in the days when he and his brother first met Woody while out adventuring on their own for the first time with their mother's permission. Their father passed away when Davis and Dennis were very young. As they went along, they fought numerous bandits, hunters and other villains and met many great friends along the way like Deep, John, Henry, Rudolf, Louis, Freeze and Firen. But the most memorable moment was when Freeze and Firen fused into a character both of them named as Firzen. A force no one has ever seen before. A force so strong, it was enough to vanquish the evil Julian from the face of the Earth. Julian was an evil monster who can control the power of the souls and had the potential and ambition to rule the world. If Firzen did not come about, Julian would have taken over the world. Memories…

"Rhrrinnngggg!" The school bell interrupted Davis' thoughts.

"I guess it's time to head back to class," Davis told Dennis.

Dennis nodded and they made their way back to their classroom.


	2. Chapter 2: Evil Reawaken

**Chapter 2: Evil Reawaken**

After school, Davis and Dennis headed their way to the Tai Hom Martial Arts School, the place where they dedicated themselves to teaching students the arts of fighting and mastering them. Davis specialized in the art of dragon-style punches while Dennis specialized in the art of kicking, so both taught two different specializations to all students. Woody helped both Davis and Dennis out whenever he could.

"Where's Woody?" Dennis asked. "Aren't we waiting for him?"

"While I was in the washroom not too long ago," Davis replied. "I met Woody …uh…rather Woody met and told me to go ahead with you first as he got something else to do. He will catch up later."

"Hmm ok…" Dennis thought for a while, then asked again, "But why?"

"Beats me. He only told me that he got something on and he'll be there as soon as he's done."

As Davis and Dennis reached Tai Hom Martial Arts School, Dennis stopped.

"What's wrong?"

After some seconds of silence, Dennis replied, "Nothing."

"Let's go then. We don't want our students waiting."

Davis and Dennis were greeted with the thunderous applause of the students as they entered the main hall of Tai Hom Martial Arts School.

"Thank you for your great applause our students," Davis exclaimed. "Now is it time we should start our lessons?"

"Wait, Mr. Davis," one of the students cried. It was a boy who had red-violet hair. He wore an unzipped jacket with a small shirt with a skeleton logo worn inside his jacket. He also wore close-to-full tight pants and black-and white sneakers. His two hands are behind his back. It looked like he was holding something. "We have something to give you."

"Oh," Davis seemed surprised. "What is it, Stinky?"

Stinky revealed what was behind his hands. "Two boxes of chocolate bars," he smirked.

"Uh…ok…" Davis was speechless. Dennis couldn't say a thing either as both accepted his chocolate bars. Stinky and the other students started laughing.

"What's so funny?" Davis and Dennis said out at the same time.

"You think that's what we truly want to give to you?" Stinky couldn't stop laughing. "Those are just small tokens. Here's our real deal. Guys bring it in!"

Another one of the students signaled for the object to be brought into the main hall. As the object was brought into the main hall by a group of students through the large entrance, Davis and Dennis couldn't believe their eyes.

Situated in front of Davis and Dennis were two statues of Davis and Dennis carved to perfection. On the side of the base of the statues was an inscription. Davis read it aloud.

"In honour of Davis and Dennis after ten years. Oh dear… we forgot all about our school's 10th anniversary! How could we even forget that?"

"Who asks you not to fix the alarm clock?" Dennis glared at Davis.

"What? Now what does this have to do with the alarm clock?"

"You tend to forget when you are late and start panicking."

"No I don't. It just slipped out of my mind!"

"Haha!" Stinky interrupted, still laughing, this time over Davis and Dennis' arguments. "You guys are just so funny. Growing up but still young at heart. One of the reasons why we like you two as martial arts masters."

"Yes, Stinky," Dennis said. "We are getting older…"

"You two are. But don't worry. To us you will still be young like us! Haha! Anyway happy 10th anniversary of our school!"

"Thanks, Stinky," Davis replied. "This school really has come a long way."

"Did you guys create the statue yourselves?" Dennis asked the students.

"Yeah we did," Stinky replied. "But the idea didn't actually come from us. It came from someone you two know of."

"Huh?" Both Davis and Dennis were confused. Then they saw Woody appear at the entrance of the main hall.

"Woody!" Dennis cried. The appearance of Woody made Davis and Dennis not being able to believe what was going on even more. "You're the one who came up with this idea?"

"I didn't come up with this idea," Woody replied, flashing a smile before continuing. "These loyal students did. However they and I created these two statues specially for you two."

"Aw…" Davis exclaimed. "You guys shouldn't have gone through all these troubles just to build these statues for us."

"Oh, yes. We should," Stinky said. "After all, you two are the ones who have successfully nurtured great fighters and all going to do the same with us. You're the best!"

The other students agreed with a big "Yeah!!"

Woody approached Davis and Dennis and gave two pats on their shoulders. "You deserve it, Davis and Dennis. This school wouldn't have lasted until now if it had not been for you guys."

"Thank you so very much!" Dennis burst into tears.

"Yeah! Thanks a lot, guys. We really appreciate it!" Davis was resisting himself from crying, though tears started to flow out of his eyes.

"Three cheers for the 2 Ds!!" Stinky cried. All the other students started following his cheer.

While everyone was celebrating Tai Hom Martial Arts School's tenth anniversary, someone was watching them from somewhere. Woody suddenly sensed it, but later waved that thought away as he celebrated together with the rest…

"Wow! What a day…" Dennis exclaimed as both Davis and Dennis laid on their beds, watching the beautiful shining stars in the night sky. Davis and Dennis' room has two windows and each both of their beds are adjacent to each of the windows. "We not only weren't punished by our principal and had a great celebration at our martial arts school, but also had a great dinner prepared by our beloved mum. Yummy!"

"Indeed it is…" Davis agreed. "Time really flies. It has already been ten years since we started the Tai Hom Martial Arts school. Today seems only like it's the first day we started our martial arts school."

"Yeah… Right after we defeated Julian and his whole evil gang."

"You're right… though I don't really want to be reminded of that battle again."

"Why not?"

"We went through so much hardship and pain and taking down Julian was not an easy thing to do. If it had not been for Firzen, do you think we would have survived?"

"Probably not… But we still defeated Julian, right? It was worth it…"

"Yeah…I guess…"

Dennis looked at the starry sky. "I wonder how our friends are doing right now…Do you think we would meet again?"

"I hope so… probably a reunion dinner or something. But other than that, I don't think we'll meet again…"

"Well…do you think Julian will return to the face of Earth?"

"No way… He was defeated…He couldn't have the ability to survive…"

"But Julian is the master of souls…and a demon…he wouldn't die so easily…"

"He only controls souls…but that doesn't mean he is immortal…Don't worry. I'm pretty sure he won't return…"

"I hope so…but defeating Julian doesn't mean all the evil is gone."

"I would definitely agree with that. But we would always be prepared for that right?"

"Yeah, you're right. We are always prepared at all times!"

Davis looked out the window one more time before saying, "Okay. Time to sleep. We don't wanna be late again. Good night, Dennis."

"Good night, Davis…"

As both Davis and Dennis were sound asleep, a whoosh of wind blew. The door opened. A figure suddenly entered Davis and Dennis' room through the opened door without making a sound. A grayish figure, wearing black sunglasses and a green cape around him. Black was all he wore around his body. He raised his dagger high up in the night, ready to swing his arm down onto Davis…

As the dagger got close to Davis' neck, Davis awoke with the swoosh sound of the dagger and rolled away, barely dodging the dagger and fell onto the ground. Dennis woke up by that sound and saw the dark figure. As Davis and Dennis prepared to fight the mysterious figure, the figure suddenly made multiple images of himself, confusing both Davis and Dennis. Before they knew it, he was gone.

Mrs. Sire hurried into Davis and Dennis' room, panting for breath.

"What happened?" Mrs. Sire asked in an exhausted voice.

"Someone just attacked us." Davis replied.

"It looks like he is an assassin." Dennis elaborated.

"What?" Mrs. Sire couldn't believe it. "Why would he launch such an attack?"

"We have no idea," Dennis told Mrs. Sire. "We didn't even do anything. What is the motive of this assassin?"

"I think that's for us to find out." Davis said.

"Oh, no…" Mrs. Sire closed his eyes. "Don't tell me you guys are going out on your own again?"

"Yes, mum," Davis said. "Who knows when he may strike again? I barely escaped from his almost successful assassination."

"Why are you doing all this?" Tears started to flow from Mrs. Sire's eyes. "You two have already risked and gone through a lot of hardship and pain ten years ago. That time when I saw you two come back safe and sound, I was so overjoyed. I couldn't bear to lose you two again…"

"Don't worry, mum," Dennis assured Mrs. Sire. "We promise that this time, it won't be long. We just need to find out why this sudden attempted assassination."

"Even if it'll be long," Davis added. "We ensure you that we will be back safe and sound like the last time."

"No!!" Mrs. Sire cried. "Don't make Mum worried again…

"Besides," Dennis said. "Tomorrow's Saturday."

"Dennis!!" Davis shook his head. "That's not the point! Anyway…" Davis thrust his pinky finger towards Mrs. Sire's fingers. "From this pinky, we vowed that we will return safe and sound."

"I'll join in!" Dennis thrust his pinky as well. "Don't worry. We'll be back, Mum. We promise."

Mrs. Sire's head was low and she was hesitant for a while, but finally thrust her pinky and gripped it tight with Davis and Dennis' pinkies.

"Make sure you guys do," Mrs. Sire spoke in a low and soft voice. "When you guys return, I'll make you the best dinner ever!"

"Barbequed turkey?" Davis' eyes suddenly lit up.

"With fries, pizza, bacons and eggs?" Dennis added.

"Sure, boys," Mrs. Sire smiled vaguely. "Anything you guys like. So it's a deal?"

Davis and Dennis smiled at each other. "Deal!" Both gripped their pinkies even tighter with Daisy's pinky.

"Are you guys gonna set off now?"

"No, not now, Mum. First thing in the morning." Davis replied.

"Yeah…we need to get some sleep first." Dennis yawned.

"Okay, boys. Sleep tight." Daisy gave a kiss to each of them.

"Good night, mum!" Davis and Dennis called as both got to their beds.

"Good night, sweethearts," Daisy said as she closed the door in front of her…

"Wake up, Dennis!" Davis started to shake Dennis who was still lying on bed.

"Huh?" Dennis woke up in a drowsy mood. "What's the fuss about?"

"We're going now."

"What? So early?"

"Yes. If we are going to find out quicker, we'll have to wake up early."

"But what about our mum? Don't we have to tell her we're leaving?"

"Shh! She'll hear us. I don't want her to worry too much about us and say all the goodbyes. It's a waste of time. Besides, we have already grown up and we can take care of ourselves. She will understand."

"You mean we are going on another adventure again?"

"No, we're not. We're just gonna find this assassin, probably defeat him and we're done. How long though…I don't know."

"Why are you suddenly so obsessed with this assassin?"

"Aren't you worried that he will strike again?"

"Well…yeah. But shouldn't we just wait for him to strike again, don't we?"

"I do not want our Mum to get involved in this…" Davis' head went low. "Who knows? Maybe he will target our Mum first after understanding our backgrounds the first time. I certainly don't want that to happen."

"You can't be serious!"

"Yes, I am. Anything can happen. Always expect the unexpected."

Both were silent for a while. Then Dennis said, "I guess you are right, though I always hate that you are right."

"Man…at this time you still like to joke."

"I'm not kidding!"

Davis smirked for a second, then continued, "So we gotta have to set off now. Pack what you need to pack. I have already packed mine. We're going in ten minutes' time."

"What? You packed before waking me up? Unfair!"

"Shh! And I give you ten minutes man. Isn't that fair enough?"

Dennis frowned and started packing as Davis headed downstairs to wait for him.

"I'm done!" Dennis called as he headed down the stairs.

"Dennis!" Davis shouted at Dennis but in a softer voice. "Didn't I tell you to stay low in your voice?"

"Oh…sorry."

"So are we ready to go?"

"Yes, Davis. Ready when you are."

Davis opened the front door that led to the outside world. The sun was starting to rise but other than that it was still pitch dark accompanied with all the beautiful stars in the sky.

As Davis headed out through the front door, Dennis hesitated.

"Are you sure we have to do this?" Dennis wondered.

"Yes, Dennis. I'm pretty sure we have to do this. There's no turning back now."

Dennis looked back at his house. The living room, filled with a plasma TV and their PS3 console. The kitchen. Their bedroom…filled with all their favourite toys that they used to play but now keep them as collection and their soft and comfortable pillows and beds…

"Dennis!" Davis interrupted Dennis' thoughts. "Stop daydreaming. We have to go now. I promise it won't take long."

In Dennis' mind, however, he was thinking that it would be another long journey… "But that's great, isn't it?" Dennis thought.

Dennis followed Davis outside as Davis slowly closed the front door…


	3. Chapter 3: The Battle Trigger

**Chapter 3: The Battle Trigger**

Another day began on a Saturday. Woody decided to pay a visit to Davis and Dennis' house early in the morning and see what would be in store for all three of them later during the day. He had his usual breakfast prepared by his mum before he headed for his two best friends' house. Little did he know Davis and Dennis were not there anymore…

Woody reached Davis and Dennis' house, which was located in the countryside, just a few miles away from the busy city, where the two brothers' school and martial arts school were located in. The sight of their house made Woody recall that Davis and Dennis loved the peacefulness of the countryside even though there were hardly any people living there, hence their home location.

Woody was about to press the doorbell to Davis and Dennis' house door when he saw Stinky coming from the opposite direction of where Woody came from.

"Hey!" Woody was surprised with Stinky's appearance. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm about to ask you the same question…" Stinky smirked.

"Guess we're both here to see Davis," Woody figured. "But why are you here to see Davis?"

"Well…why are you here to see Davis?"

"Huh? Answer my question!"

"Hehe…Just kidding," Stinky smirked again. "I come here as a friend to maybe go out and have fun."

"Well…I have the same intention…"

"Cool…So we are here for the same reasons after all. Hehe…"

Woody growled, then pressed the doorbell. The instant Woody did that, the door suddenly swung open.

"Oh…it's just Woody and Stinky…" Mrs. Sire said with a worried look on her face.

"What's wrong, Mrs. Sire?" Woody asked before looking past Mrs. Sire in the living room. "Hey! Davis! Dennis! Stinky and I are here!"

"They're not at home…" Mrs. Sire told Woody before lowering her head.

"What?" Stinky could not believe it. "We came here pretty early and they're not at home?"

Stinky then noticed her lowered head. "Are you all right, madam?"

"It's Mrs. Sire…" Woody reminded Stinky with a whisper.

"Right…Mrs. Sire."

"Could you two come in?" Mrs. Sire pleaded. "I have something to address to both of you…"

Mrs. Sire told Woody and Stinky everything that had happened last night.

"I beg your pardon?!" Woody cried. "You can't be kidding!"

"It's true, Woody," Mrs. Sire assured, still with her head low. "I don't know why they have to do this. I understand that they are brave and my two sons have all grown up, but this is not the way to pursue an enemy..." Tears started to flow from Mrs. Sire's eyes. "I do not want them to suffer like before…"

"Those two idiots," Woody became angry. "What were they thinking? Even if an enemy really attacked them doesn't mean they should investigate all by themselves!"

Stinky, being the impatient type, looked at Mrs. Sire curiously. "Do you know where they went?"

"I have absolutely no idea," Mrs. Sire replied. "They left without even saying good bye…" More tears started to flow out of her eyes. "They did, however, leave this note that I found on the living room's coffee table."

Mrs. Sire showed the note to Woody. Woody took it and read what was written on it.

Dear Mum,

We're sorry that we left without even saying goodbye or anything. We are also sorry that we lied to you about leaving tomorrow morning but we feel that you should not see us off as that may make you worry even more. We had to leave early because the earlier we find out what is going on, the earlier we can go back. Please do not worry about us, Mum. We made a promise, remember? That we will be back safe and sound once we're done with this. So don't worry about us okay? Take care, Mum.

Love always,

Davis and Dennis

Upon having finished reading the note, Woody crushed the note instantly.

"Idiots!" Woody cried in dismay. "Doesn't leaving your Mum without saying goodbye or anything makes her worry even more?!" Woody turned to Mrs. Sire. "Sorry for yelling. Anyway what is going on? Why did they leave all of a sudden? I don't understand."

"Somebody attacked them late last night," Mrs. Sire replied in a sad tone. "According to them."

"What?" Woody and Stinky were both in shock.

"This is definitely serious business," Stinky exclaimed.

"Indeed," Woody replied. "Mrs. Sire, why would someone attack them? And who was the one who attacked them?"

"I do not know either," Mrs. Sire cried. "They only said they were attacked and that they have to investigate. They also said they will start this morning. But they left earlier than expected. And without even a proper goodbye! Even their bags are gone!!"

"Idiots indeed…" Woody shook his head. "How are Davis and Dennis gonna find this guy if they don't even know where he is? They should have at least waited for me!"

"Uh…" Stinky said. "We find them?"

"You're not supposed to answer the question!" Woody glared at Stinky. "It's a rhetorical question!"

"What's a rhetorical question?" Stinky asked, pretending not to know.

Woody rolled his eyes. "Forget it… And what do you mean 'we'? I'm going to find them. You stay here. Mrs. Sire, don't worry. I will find them."

Mrs. Sire nodded her head without saying a word.

As Woody was about to leave, Stinky grabbed Woody's arm.

"What are you doing?" Woody asked. "Let go of my arm!"

"I'm going with you," Stinky replied.

"What?" Woody was not sure if he heard it right.

"You are not deaf. I'm going along with you to find Davis and Dennis."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Woody yelled. "I said let go!"

"I'm not letting go because I wanna go with you."

"You're inexperienced. This may prove to be too dangerous for you. Stay here and please let go of my arm!"

"I can prove it to you that I'm capable of surviving and fighting. I'm no longer a little boy anymore. I'm not afraid of anything!"

Upon hearing that, Woody started to boil with anger. "Stop fooling around!"

"I'm not kidding. I'm serious. I'll prove it to you by beating you!"

Woody was stunned for a second. He then smirked at Stinky before yanking his arm away from Stinky's grip.

"Dream on!" Woody shouted at Stinky. "You're only just a typical martial arts student. You are no match against me. In fact, you're light years away from even hitting me!"

Stinky was hesitant for a moment. In his mind he was thinking, "What have I just said? I'm so in deep trouble now." But Stinky shook off that thought. He stood firm and glared at Woody, "I may not be able to defeat you, but I will show to you just how much I have improved!"

Woody glared back at Stinky. After a moment of silence, Woody agreed upon Stinky's challenge. "You're on. If you don't show any signs of improvement from the last time I saw your talents as a martial artist, don't even follow me!"

"Agreed," Stinky nodded his head as both him and Woody glared at each other with fiery eyes.


	4. Chapter 4: The Test of Potential

**Chapter 4: The Test of Potential**

Mrs. Sire looked in fear as both Stinky and Woody continued to glare at each other with fearsome eyes.

"Please stop this nonsense, you two!" Mrs. Sire demanded. "This is not the time to fight."

"Don't stop me, madam," Stinky told Mrs. Sire. "I want to prove just how strong I've become over the past few years."

"He's right, Mrs. Sire," Woody sarcastically agreed. "I want to show him just how dangerous the outside world can be with this fight. Please don't interfere."

Woody turned to Stinky. "Let's go outside."

"You don't have to tell me what to do," Stinky grunted as both headed their way outside. Mrs. Sire followed them in silence.

The wind howls swiftly as both Stinky and Woody faced each other. In Woody's mind, he knew that it was just a waste of time fighting Stinky, but he had to fight the stubborn Stinky to prove to him that he wasn't competent enough to go along with him. Stinky, on the other hand, was fighting Woody to prove that he wasn't just a pushover.

"Why are you all doing this?" Mrs. Sire cried in anger. "This isn't the time to pick up a fight!"

"It's not just a fight, ma'am," Stinky told Mrs. Sire. "It's a fight to prove my worth!"

"What are you talking about?" Mrs. Sire yelled in confusion. "Why don't both of you go find my sons? Even though I'm uncertain of your abilities, I'm sure both of you can gather together to find them!"

"No, Mrs. Sire," Woody turned a deaf ear over what Mrs. Sire had just said. "It's too dangerous for Stinky to go along with me. It is better off that Stinky stays with you in case something might happen to you. I can find them myself."

"You have a point there," Mrs. Sire pondered for a while. "But won't it be too dangerous for you to go alone?"

"Trust me, Mrs. Sire. I am stronger than what you think."

"Nonsense!" Stinky shouted at Woody. "You think you're strong, but two are better than one!"

"Then what about Mrs. Sire?" Woody shouted back at Stinky. "Haven't you even thought what might happen to Mrs. Sire if both of us would go?"

"Oh… Trying to twist what you've just said, eh?" Stinky snorted. "I think it's more like because you think I'm a weakling and that's why you don't want me to go along with you!"

"That is total rubbi-"

"Enough!" Stinky demanded as he got into his fighting stance. "Today I'm going to show you that I'm not a weakling and I'm going to beat you! You're clearly underestimating my fighting abilities!"

There was silence for a while. Mrs. Sire could not believe what was going on at the moment. Stinky had his stern eyes locked on Woody. Woody's head was down.

"Stubborn as always," Woody mumbled before lifting his head to face Stinky. "This would not have been necessary if you had heeded my advice. I have not even a single idea why you have this kind of attitude."

Woody took a step forward as he continued, "And I would not tolerate this childish behaviour. Since you've pushed it to this far, I have no choice but to show you my powers. The same ones I've used to aid my friends ten years ago. And I'll show you the meaning of pain."

Woody took two more steps forward and faced Mrs. Sire. "Oh, and don't worry, Mrs. Sire. I'll make this fight real quick. It'll be over in five minutes. And I hope he'll learn his lessons after being beaten by me in such a short time."

"Don't get cocky there, Woody," Stinky growled. "Overconfidence will lead to defeat as quoted by my teacher, Davis himself. If you have let me joined you to find Davis and Dennis, none of this would have happened."

"Well, I think it's more like if you aren't so stubborn, none of this would have happened. And since when am I cocky and overconfident? I think stubbornness will lead to defeat!"

Woody took four steps forward before getting himself into his fighting stance. "Enough chatting. I don't mean to be mean here, but when someone makes it intolerable for me, I have to teach him a lesson."

"Hmph!" Stinky smirked. "More like the other way around!"

With that, Stinky started the first strike with a swift punch towards Woody's face.

Woody was caught by surprise, but it wasn't enough to get hit by Stinky as he narrowly blocked his attack. Woody then jumped back and away from Stinky.

"Oh…" Stinky chuckled. "Already starting to become a coward? This will definitely make things easier for me!"

"Think before you speak," Woody warned. With that, Woody suddenly vanished in a flash, leaving Stinky in total confusion. Before Stinky could even react, Woody was behind him.

"Too slow!!" Woody roared as he does a 180 degree flip-kick on Stinky's back, sending Stinky face down onto the ground.

"That's cheating, you idiot!!" Stinky yelled as he got back up.

"Hmph! Too much whining and all. And since when does fighting have rules? This isn't a fighting competition! Oh wait…are you saying you're giving up?"

Stinky stared with what looked like fire in his eyes. "Whatever. My whining doesn't mean I'm stepping down from this battle!" Stinky lunged forward again with his right fist heading towards Woody.

This time Woody wasn't as surprised as before. He easily dodged Stinky's fist and sent a kick towards Stinky's face. Stinky barely dodged Woody's kick but was totally stunned when Woody delivered a flip kick with his other leg into Stinky's stomach, causing Stinky to fly upwards and collapse onto the ground.

Woody approached Stinky and stretched out his hand towards him. "I'm not a bad man. Give up now. I don't wanna cause any trouble."

"Yeah, right," Stinky bellowed as he got back up and sent numerous punches towards Woody. Woody avoided all of them with ease, all with the movements of his head and body. As Stinky stopped to catch his breath, Woody took this opportunity to send two orange arc-shaped energy blasts towards Stinky, both hitting Stinky. Stinky started to spurt out blood as he crashed to the ground again.

"Please," Woody pleaded. "Don't force me to use my ultimate move. I don't want to put you into serious injury because no one would be able to protect Mrs. Sire if you are as good as dead. Wake up your senses!"

"Yes, please," Mrs. Sire cried. "Both of you stop this, not just Stinky. This is totally unnecessary!"

Woody ignored Mrs. Sire while Stinky totally ignored what Woody had just said and got back up. As blood trickled from Stinky's mouth, Stinky wiped it away. "I'm just gonna show you that I am no weakling!! I am NOT A WEAKLING!!!" With the cry of the wolf, Stinky produced a mini tornado around his fist, which in turn launched into a power tornado fist and lunged forward at Woody.

"Eat this!" Stinky roared as the fist closed in on Woody.

Woody, stunned by Stinky's attack, managed to barely avoid it, leaving a deep cut on his left arm in the process.

"Impressive," Woody mumbled. "But I'm sorry that I'll have to do this."

Woody started to bend down. Orange light started to glow around Woody's right leg as he prepared to launch what seemed like a powerful attack. After a while, Woody sprang forward with the speed of a tiger, his right knee heading fast towards Stinky.

Stinky, exhausted from the attack he just launched, could not react in time as Woody's knee came into contact with Stinky's stomach, blasting Stinky far across the pavement before crashing down hard to the ground.

Woody approached Stinky, who was lying down on the ground, blood on the side of his lips and flowing from his nose. The impact of Woody's kick on Stinky's stomach was just so great that it made Stinky bleed. Stinky was motionless and in an unconscious state.

"You're lucky I didn't use my Tiger Dash right on your face, or you would have been dead by now." Woody grabbed Stinky's motionless body and carried him towards Mrs. Sire, who was so completely stunned that she was speechless.

"I'm very sorry, Mrs. Sire," Woody apologized. "But I had to use force to stop the stubborn Stinky. It was, by no means, intentional."

Mrs. Sire could not believe her eyes. It took her a while before she finally opened her mouth, "Still…you shouldn't have hit him to unconsciousness!"

"Once again, I'm sorry. I had to knock him out so that this stupidity does not continue." Woody shook his head. "Stinky is pretty talented and has potential, but he's just too stubborn and hates to be weak."

Woody paused for a while before continuing, "Stinky was supposed to look after you, but now it looks like it has to be the other way round. Would it be okay to take care of him and treat his wounds?"

Mrs. Sire nodded her head reluctantly and Woody carried Stinky into Mrs. Sire's house.

"You can put Stinky on Davis' bed," Mrs. Sire said as Woody did what Mrs. Sire had told him. "Now to find medication…"

"While you're at it," Woody reached into his pants' pocket and took out a small bottle of milk. "Take this and let him drink this. It can heal his wounds."

"Well…" Mrs. Sire pondered as Woody handed her a bottle of milk. "Thanks, Woody."

Woody looked at Stinky one more time before announcing, "Now, I must be going. Are you sure you're gonna be all right here with Stinky?"

"Oh, don't worry, Woody," Mrs. Sire assured Woody, "We will be all right. Nothing can really go wrong."

Woody nodded in agreement. "Just be careful, okay?"

Mrs. Sire nodded. "Oh, is your cut gonna be all right?"

"No worries, Mrs. Sire. It's just a small cut." Woody started to feel slight pain in the cut.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure. Thanks for your concern. I really must be going now."

"Okay then. Take care now, and hope you can find my sons as quickly as possible."

"Will do."

With that, Woody walked out of Stinky's house as Mrs. Sire searched for medication to treat Stinky's injuries…


	5. Chapter 5: The First Danger

**Chapter 5: The First Danger**

Stinky found himself in a dark room.

"Where the hell am I?"

As soon as he said that, a dark figure appeared in the midst of the darkness. Stinky could not quite make out his face because what seemed like his sampan hat was hiding his face and it was too dark to make out his attire.

"You and your friends will die sooner or later!" he boomed.

"Who are you? What are you talking about?"

"Soon all of you will face immense danger. And this danger is unlike any other!"

The mysterious figure let out a cold and evil laugh.

"What nonsense are you saying? Are you asking for death?"

"Oh yes…the deaths of all of you!"

Stinky became very furious and ran towards the dark figure, crying loud with all his might. But as soon as he got there, he disappeared. A maniacal laugh followed.

"Don't be a coward!!" Stinky cried. "Come and fight me!"

And then…

Stinky opened his eyes slowly. He found himself on a comfy bed. Stinky struggled to get himself up…And noticed that he was in Davis' room.

Stinky looked around. Davis' room is pretty neat and tidy. There is a bookshelf to the left of the bed and a cupboard to the right. Against the front wall sits a computer desk with a computer on it. The whole room gives a lot white feeling and there isn't a lot of dirt at all. It looks very clean indeed.

Stinky wondered why he was lying on his bed. Then he remembered. The brutal Tiger Dash he received from Woody. He could not believe that he could not even beat Woody. He knew he had gotten stronger, but after that fight, it seemed he was not strong enough.

The door opened. Mrs. Sire was carrying a cup of fresh-hot milk.

"Oh Stinky…you have woken up," Mrs. Sire was delighted to see Stinky awake. "Are you feeling any better?"

"Yes, madam," Stinky nodded. "I'm feeling better than before…now if you excuse me, I need to look for Davis and Dennis."

"What? You only just recovered from you injuries. You can't just go out immediately. Besides…"

"Besides?" Stinky looked at Mrs. Sire curiously.

"Didn't Woody ask you to stay here and look after me in case anything bad happens to me?"

"Please, madam…Don't even mention that name."

"Oh, sorry…"

Stinky got off from his bed. "I'm sorry, madam, but I believe nothing bad will happen here. I mean…the assassin probably was after Davis and Dennis and not you. He wouldn't be targeting here. I'm pretty sure of it."

"Are you sure?" Mrs. Sire was hesitant. "But Woody…"

"I told you….don't mention that name!!" Stinky yelled at Mrs. Sire.

Mrs. Sire was shocked by Stinky's reaction.

"I'm sorry, madam…please trust me. Nothing wrong will happen. Please let me go."

Mrs. Sire was still not quite sure. But there was nothing she could do about it and she eventually nodded her head.

As Stinky was about to walk past Mrs. Sire, Mrs. Sire said, "At least have this cup of fresh milk before you leave. It'll give you strength and energy."

"Thanks, madam," Stinky took the cup and drank the milk heartily.

"By the way, I got this milk from Woody…"

In that instance, Stinky spat out almost all the milk that was in his mouth onto the ground. Mrs. Sire was completely stunned.

"I'm terribly sorry," Stinky lowered his head. "I would like to clean up this mess but I'm afraid I have to leave. Good bye." Stinky ran past the dumbfounded Mrs. Sire while looking down and out of the house.

Mrs. Sire looked at the milk mess on the ground. "Oh dear…" she sighed. "I've just mopped the whole house. Looks like I'll have to do it again…"

"Where are we going?" Dennis asked as the two brothers were walking along a path that led to a forest. "Don't tell me…"

"Well…yeah, Dennis. We're going to the Lion Forest."

"Why the hell are we going to the Lion Forest? I swear I never want to step foot in this forest again."

"We want to find out who the assassin is right? Then the Lion Forest is the perfect place to find him, since this forest is heavily dense."

"But this forest gives me the creeps. It has always been so since I last entered the forest."

"I don't remember you telling me that."

"Oh, yes I did."

"No, you didn't."

"Did too."

"Did not."

"Did too."

"Did…wait…why are we arguing over this? We're wasting time! Anyway you didn't."

"I did," Dennis grumbled. "I did mumble though."

"That's the same as not telling me."

"I did!"

"Whatever… Let's get a move on, shall we?"

As Davis and Dennis made their way into the forest, it started to get darker. Even in broad daylight, due to the heavy denseness of Lion Forest, hardly any light would penetrate through the trees. Because of this, one would portray how it would feel to be in the Lion Forest at night.

"This is starting to get creepy," Dennis whimpered.

"Oh don't be a chicken," Davis exclaimed. "This is a forest after all. We have our skills to fend ourselves. Or don't tell me…"

"What?" Dennis demanded.

"You're afraid of the dark?"

"No I'm not!"

"You sure are…given the fact that you shout when you deny it," Davis smirked.

"Hmph!" Dennis grumbled as both of them continued their way forward.

After wandering in the forest for about fifteen minutes, Dennis became restless.

"This is so boring. I wanna go back out of this forest."

"Are you sure you're bored? Or are you scared? Hehehe…"

"I'm not scared!!" Dennis crossed his arms. "One day I'm so gonna beat you down."

"Try me," Davis challenged.

As Dennis was about to hit Davis, they heard the sound of a twig snap nearby.

"Someone's close," Davis warned. "Be on alert."

Dennis nodded. A while later, the sound of rustling caused by the walking on the dead leaves was heard. It slowly became louder.

"He's coming," Davis told Dennis. "Get ready."

Just as they got into their fighting stances, the sound of walking was followed by a whoosh before it disappeared.

"What happened?" Dennis exclaimed. Both of them were confused.

"Must have just been the wind or something," Davis predicted.

"No…wind does make the rustling sound."

Before Davis could say another word, both he and Dennis felt another whoosh of wind, this time behind them. And both felt something sharp on their necks.

Davis and Dennis turned their heads. And came face-to-face with two daggers and what looked like the same assassin that invaded their home last night.


	6. Chapter 6: The Assassin

**Chapter 6: The Assassin**

Davis and Dennis' necks are on the line as they observe the person behind them. This guy looked pretty dull-coloured as an overall appearance. He had black hair and wore black sunglasses. He also wore black clothing with a dull green cape. Davis seemed to remember him seeing someone similar to the one that tried to kill him and Dennis last night.

Davis and Dennis didn't know what to do at the moment. One wrong move and they could be dead in an instant. Both of them could not speak to each other as that would be a wrong move. All they could do was just wait and see what would happen.

The assassin was still for a while before he disappeared in a whoosh and reappeared further behind them.

Davis and Dennis were surprised that he didn't kill them. They turned around. The assassin and the two Sire brothers are now facing each other.

"Who are you?" Davis demanded.

The assassin smirked. "Although my name is of no importance to you two, I may as well reveal my name to you guys."

The assassin made three steps forward and introduced himself. "My name is Felix. That's all you need to know."

"No…that's not all." Dennis exclaimed. "We also want to know why you sneaked into our house last night and tried to kill us?"

"Is that so?" Felix said. "You must have been mistaken. I don't think I'm him."

"You're lying!" Davis cried. "I clearly saw your shadowy figure holding a dagger and trying to kill me!"

"Really?" Felix rolled his eyes. "Well…even if that is so, why I would wanna kill you both is none of your and my concern. And my name is all you need to know about me."

"Then that means you're planning to kill us?"

"I never said I planned to kill you. But now I shall say I want to kill you both!"

Felix put one of his daggers back into his coat and disappeared again with a fast whoosh of wind. Before Davis and Dennis could react, they felt sharp pain on their stomachs. Both of them were completely caught off guard by Felix's fast attack.

"In terms of speed, you two are no match against me," Felix chuckled.

Davis and Dennis got up, with blood dripping from the cut suffered from Felix's dagger. Despite that, Davis and Dennis got back into their fighting stances.

"Ah…not giving up?"

"As if!" Dennis cried.

"A mere cut won't stop us," Davis supported Dennis' statement.

With that, Davis ran towards Felix and launched a fist attack at him.

Felix made a quick smirk before avoiding Davis' attack with ease with his flashy movement.

"Take that!" Dennis yelled and jumped quickly with his leg stretched towards Felix, to Felix's total surprise.

Felix tried to avoid Dennis' kick with his same flashy movement, but was hit by Dennis' leg on his torso, sending Felix down to the ground.

Davis and Dennis regrouped together. "Good job, Dennis."

"Ha!" Dennis mocked at Felix. "You can't fool us twice even if you're faster than us."

Felix got back up and smiled.

"What's so happy about?" Dennis demanded.

"You haven't seen anything from me!" Felix roared. "You think a kick will exploit my weakness? Not once in your lifetime!"

With that, Felix started making multiple images of himself. Davis remembered Felix doing the same thing as he did last night, in order to escape. That made Davis wonder: "Is Felix trying to escape again?"

After a while, it did not seem like it. Felix was creating multiple images to confuse both Dennis and Davis.

"Are you able to figure out which is the real Felix of those images?" Davis whispered to Dennis.

"I can't tell," Dennis replied. "He's moving way too fast!"

As Davis and Dennis looked on, Felix, still multiplying images of himself, tried to intimidate them, "Surprised until you don't know which one is really me? Hehehe at this rate you'll be as good as dead!"

"Shut up!" Dennis felt provoked by Felix's statement and started to hurl multiple blue energy blasts at all of Felix's images.

"Calm down, Dennis!" Davis cried. "Just attacking without strategizing is not gonna help!"

But Dennis was just fuming so much that he couldn't even hear what Davis had just said as he continued to fire energy blasts at the images.

The images seem to disappear upon impact of the energy blasts, but Felix is still multiplying. Felix laughed evilly before he stopped multiplying and disappeared from the fading images. Before Davis and Dennis could even realize what was going on, both of them each felt not one, but two sharp slashes on their lower torso. These two slashes were so fast that the second slash sent them both upwards before collapsing onto the ground with a heavy impact.

The slashes this time seemed to be deeper than before as both Davis and Dennis hold their stomachs in pain.

"Hahaha!" Felix laughed. "I told you you're no match against me. I have a lot of tricks up my sleeves."

"You bastard!" Dennis yelled and charged towards Felix.

"No use," Felix told Dennis as he disappeared from the reaches of Dennis and reappeared…right in front of Davis, who appeared to have suffered a deeper cut than Dennis and was on the ground being motionless rather than standing up.

"What are you doing?!" Dennis asked in an agitated tone.

"You ought to know what I'm gonna do," Felix laughed without facing Dennis. He then grabbed Davis' throat with his left hand and his back facing Dennis and made a slash on Davis with his dagger. Blood splattered from Davis's upper body.

"NOOO!!!!" Dennis could not take it any longer. The wind around him started to brew up as if a mini tornado is about to be produced.

Felix dropped the motionless Davis and turned around. "What the…" Felix was surprised to see the current situation.

More wind started to stir up as Dennis looked at Felix with stern eyes. "Nobody but I can touch my brother!!!"

Dennis jumped up and started spinning in a full circle, with his right leg stretched out, towards Felix. Wind started to blow strongly around Dennis. Dennis is fast approaching Felix.

"This is my Hurricane Kick!!" Dennis roared. "I'm gonna make sure you'll die after hurting my brother!"

Felix was stunned for a while. But he managed to recover just in time to teleport away from the deadly reaches of Dennis' Hurricane Kick and barely missing it.

Upon missing, the wind died down. Dennis dropped back onto the ground, panting and exhausted from the large amount of energy used on casting Hurricane Kick over a long distance.

"Sorry," a voice echoed. Felix reappeared to the left side of Dennis. Dennis, being heavily exhausted, had no chance of reacting as Felix ran past him and made a fast slash on him. Then Felix jumped up and turn to face Dennis again.

"Like I've said…I've got a lot of tricks up my sleeves. Now I shall let you have a taste of my knife!" Felix reached into his coat and started to pull out a red dagger as he prepared to immediately throw it towards Dennis.

Suddenly Felix sensed something amiss. He withdrew his attempt to throw his dagger and teleport back to the ground, just in time to see Woody blasting his Tiger Dash in the direction of where Felix used to be after coming out his own teleport portal.

"A third party?" Felix groaned as Woody landed on the ground. "Hmph. This is no fun at all. Guess I'll see ya all again sometime." Felix teleported away from them and was truly gone…for the moment.

Woody looked at the injured states of both Davis who was unconscious and Dennis, who was on his knees. "This is bad. I'm gonna have to take both of you to our martial arts school. I can't let Mrs. Sire see you two in this state if I bring you two back home."

"AHHHHHH!!!!!" Dennis yelled at the top of his lungs that echoed through the whole forest. Then he collapsed on the ground. It would seem that his loud burst consumed his last amount of energy before it was too much for him to handle. Woody shook his head.

A sound of someone dashing through the leaf litter alerted Woody. "He's coming back?" Woody wondered as he got into fighting stance.

A boy with red-violet hair appeared on the scene. It was Stinky. Woody got back to normal standing position and looked sternly at him.

Stinky could not believe what was in front of his eyes. Davis and Dennis were both bleeding profusely from their wounds mainly suffered on their stomachs.

"What are you standing there for? Give me a hand here!" Woody demanded.

Stinky approached Davis and Dennis and carried Dennis and his backpack while Woody carried Davis and his backpack as they made their way to their martial arts school.


	7. Chapter 7: Mixed Emotions 1

**Chapter 7: Mixed Emotions 1**

By the time Stinky and Woody, both carrying Dennis and Davis respectively, reached Tai Hom Martial Arts School, it was already dusk. Stinky and Woody took the injured brothers to an empty accommodation room. Some students of Tai Hom Martial Arts School stayed here so there were accommodation rooms on the second floor of the school with two beds each in the corners and a window between the beds to accommodate to their staying in the school. Every door had a sign which states whether it was occupied or empty, so no one should mistakenly enter a room that was already occupied.

As Woody opened the door to an empty room, a door to another room opened. One of the students, a girl, came out of the room and saw Stinky and Woody carrying the injured Dennis and Davis. She had purple hair and wore a light orange tank top and dark green shorts. Her footwear was a pair of sleeping slippers. Her hair was untied.

"Oh dear me!" the girl cried as he dashed towards them. "What happened?"

"No time to explain," Woody replied. "Since you're here, help us get some medication for us. Quick!"

"Right away!" the girl immediately ran to the nearest first aid kit attached to the wall at the end of the hallway to get medication. (Most first-aid kits in the Tai Hom Martial Arts School are attached to the walls for convenience's sake.)

Woody and Stinky put Davis and Dennis on the two beds. After a while, the girl arrived with medication of bandages and antiseptics and handed them to Woody.

Woody thanked the girl and asked, "I seemed to have forgotten your name. What was it again?"

"My name's…" the girl started.

"Her name is Jessie," Stinky interrupted.

"Nobody asked you," Woody glared at Stinky.

Stinky crossed his arms and looked away from Woody.

Jessie laughed heartily. "Stinky's right. That's my name. Serves you right for being a busybody though, Stinky." Jessie laughed again.

Stinky couldn't believe it and looked away from Jessie.

"Stinky…I believe you can treat Davis and Dennis' wounds. You do it." Woody instructed.

"Why don't you do it yourself?!" Stinky yelled at Woody. He walked out of the room furiously and slammed the door hard.

"What the hell is with him today?" Jessie scowled.

"Ignore him… Anyway I'm afraid I'll have to ask you to treat their wounds. Is that okay?"

"It's perfectly okay," Jessie replied with a smile. "In fact I'm pretty good at this really, since…well…I'm a girl…"

As Jessie took the medication from Woody and started to prepare for the medication to treat the wounds of Davis and Dennis, Woody went up to the door and locked it.

"Why did you lock the door?" Jessie wondered.

"That slam must have already awoken everyone who was asleep. I don't want any commotion." Woody paused for a while. "And I don't want anyone else to know what happen to their and your masters. At least not now."

"But wouldn't Stinky tell them what happened to our masters?"

Woody thought for a while before telling Jessie, "Nah…Stinky wouldn't talk to anyone when he is angry. I know his attitude."

Jessie spoke as she treated Davis and Dennis' wounds. "Did something happen between you and Stinky?" she asked with a worried tone.

"Something did happen. But I don't want to talk about it."

Jessie then kept her mouth closed.

After a while, Jessie was still busily treating Davis and Dennis' wounds while Woody stood by the window, looking out into the starry night sky. There was complete silence.

"Oh…how can I forget to ask this question?!" Jessie suddenly broke the silence, much to Woody's surprise, who was gazing away at the sky. "What happened to Davis and Dennis."

Woody, still with his eyes looking towards the sky, was silent for a while. Then he blurted, "Someone tried to kill them."

"What?" Jessie couldn't believe what she just heard. "Why?"

"I have no idea. Neither do Davis and Dennis. We don't know what this guy's motive is." Woody looked down. "But I do know we have to find this guy as quickly as possible and get rid of him."

Woody looked out of the window again and continued, "I certainly cannot forgive someone who tried to kill my two best friends. If I do meet him again, I'll be sure that I'll kill him instantly without question."

Jessie was speechless. This was the first time she had heard Woody, one of her and other students' masters, talking about their feelings so straight forward towards a student (which in this case is Jessie).

Woody turned around and noticed Jessie's speechless expression. "I'm sorry that you have heard this. Please forget what I've just said and continue with what you're doing."

Jessie shook off the speechless expression and continued with the treatment of Davis and Dennis' wounds.

Half an hour had passed as Jessie finished with the bandaging. "I'm done. Aren't you going to sleep?"

Woody looked away from the starry sky and looked at Davis and Dennis. "I'll just sleep on the floor here. You can go to sleep now."

"Well…okay. Good night."

"Good night."

Jessie opened the door after unlocking it and closed the door after exiting the room. A 'click' sound was then heard.

Jessie shrugged and was about to go to her room when she heard the sound of footsteps from the stairs. Jessie turned around and saw a boy about the same age as her (about 15) and wearing a yellow cap and yellow pyjamas.

"Ricky?!" Jessie was surprised. "What are you doing out here in the middle of the night?"

Ricky gazed blankly at Jessie. "I was about to ask you the same question…"

"Nothing important really. What about you?"

"Not exactly important," Ricky implied. "But I saw Stinky outside sitting in the grasses in the backyard. I tried talking to him but he just ignored me. Other students tried earlier but to no avail."

"Hmm….Let me go speak to him."

"You sure you can?"

"Why not? I'm a girl. A girl will be completely different from a boy."

"I don't know…It looks like he is really in a bad mood."

"Well…can't I at least try?" Jessie pouted.

"You're right…you can try…but don't say I didn't warn you beforehand."

"Yeah, yeah," Jessie nodded as she headed to the backyard.

In his mind, Ricky was thinking, "There is absolutely no way she can even communicate with him. I know Stinky better than she does…"

Jessie went to the school's backyard in a starry night. This night just happened to have a full moon. Wind blew swiftly in a certain direction, causing Jessie to shiver slightly.

Jessie looked around in all directions and her eyes caught sight of a dark figure sitting under a tall apple tree. His arms were cross-folded and his head was slightly tilted downwards.

Jessie slowly approached him quietly, not wanting to alarm him of her sudden arrival immediately. _Must be Stinky, _Jessie thought.

Jessie's attempt to approach Stinky, who still couldn't be seen clearly, quietly didn't work long enough though as she accidentally stepped on a twig, causing it to snap.

The snap alerted the dark figure and he looked in the direction of where the sound came from. Upon seeing Jessie, he frowned.

"Oh come on, Stinky…don't give me that kind of look." Jessie frowned back at Stinky as she got up close to him.

"What is it that you want?"

"Um…er…" Jessie hesitated. _Come to think of it…why am I here?_

"I'm just wondering where you are," Jessie replied, clearing not really telling the actual truth.

"Oh…so you're worried about me?" Stinky smirked.

"No, I don't!" Jessie blushed.

Looking at Jessie blushing, Stinky laughed hysterically.

"I hate you!" Jessie turned away from Stinky and crossed her arms boldly.

Stinky was still laughing. "Okay…I'll stop this instant." Stinky controlled his laughter and took a deep breath.

"Okay I'm back under control. Anything I can do for you, my lady?" Stinky bowed truthfully at Jessie while smirking.

"Cut that out!" Jessie whimpered.

"Well…?"

"Oh…you heard my first reply."

"Well you see me right here, right now. Anything else?"

"I'm also wondering if I can…sit here and chat with you?"

Stinky looked at his watch and said, "It's seriously getting late. Almost midnight. But what the heck… Anything."

Jessie beamed with Stinky accepting to chat with her.

_What is wrong with her? _Stinky wondered.

Jessie and Stinky both sat down on the soft grass and looked at the starry night sky.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Jessie was dazzled by the bright stars and the full moon in the sky. "The stars…the moon…"

"Yeah, I guess."

"What do you mean I guess? Of course it's beautiful."

"If you say so." Stinky shrugged.

"Hmph. Not appreciative at all."

There was a moment of silence as Jessie and Stinky enjoyed the scenery of the sky.

"So I've heard Davis and Dennis were targeted by someone?" Jessie asked in a worried tone.

"Not just someone…" Stinky turned to face Jessie. "An assassin. I didn't know it was so severe until I actually saw the aftermath of it."

"I'm so sorry…"

"You don't have to. It's the damn assassin's fault. And I swear I'll kill him if it's the last thing I do!"

Stinky turned to gaze at the starry sky again. "And if Woody didn't stop me from looking for Davis and Dennis, none of this would have happened! It's all his fault as well!"

Jessie was confused. "What exactly happened between you and Woody?"

"I…" Stinky started but then stopped almost immediately. "This is none of your concern. You don't have to know."

"Fine!" Jessie turned away from Stinky and looked at the sky again.

Stinky, seeing Jessie's reaction, decided to hit back by yawning. Jessie turned her head to face Stinky.

"I'm gonna go to sleep now. See you tomorrow." Stinky got up and walked with big steps back to the school.

"Hey! Wait up!" Jessie got up and chased after Stinky.

"Why did you come after me?" Stinky asked as Jessie reached him. "Oh wait…you are afraid of loneliness in the dark, are you?" He smirked.

"No!" Jessie pinched Stinky's right arm.

"Ouch! That hurts!"

"Serves you right!"

As Jessie and Stinky continued to quarrel upon heading back into school, up high at the 2nd storey window stood someone with brown hair filled with grey highlights and wore green shirt and jacket and grey pants. He looked at them enter the school and shook his head.

"When will he ever learn…?"


	8. Chapter 8: Mixed Emotions 2

**Chapter 8: Mixed Emotions 2**

The cock doodled as the sun rose to signal the morning. The morning sunlight beam went through the open window and hit Davis' eyes, causing him to wake up, still feeling dizzy. _Where am I?_ Davis wondered.

Davis looked around examining the surroundings around him. Yellow-orange wooden walls surround the whole room, with two beds and an open window without curtains. He found himself bandaged around his upper body (so he's not wearing any shirt) and on a small one-person bed. Looking across to his right, he saw Dennis lying on another bed, also bandaged around his torso. _What's going on?_ His head was hurting so much he couldn't think much.

Then he looked at the wooden-tiled floor and saw Woody sleeping on the floor, snoring quite loudly. The snoring wasn't the reason Davis woke up, though.

"Woody…" Davis had a good look at Woody…and almost fell down onto Woody as he leant forward too much. Luckily he grabbed the bed side quickly with his two hands to balance himself.

"Whew…" Davis breathed a sigh of relief.

_So I'm in the martial arts school…_ Davis thought. _I better get out of this room and check out what the rest are doing._

Davis started to get off the bed, careful not to awake Woody and Dennis. As he did so, he felt a sharp pain on his lower torso. He couldn't help but let out a soft cry.

That soft cry was enough to awaken Woody, who saw Davis trying to get off the bed.

"You should not be getting off the bed." Woody advised Davis as he got himself up. "You have not recovered fully and should get back to bed."

"I'm perfectly fine, Woody," Davis assured Woody as he got himself to stand, but then immediately fell down with another sharp pain on his torso.

Woody ran towards Davis and pulled him back up. "What did I tell you? You need all the rest that you can get…especially after that brutal assault by that…greyish guy."

"That greyish guy has a name…Felix it is."

"Got that. Anyway get back to bed and have a good rest."

Davis nodded and went back to bed with Woody helping him back up onto the bed. Davis then went back to sleep.

After Davis was asleep, Woody was in silence for a long moment as he looked at Davis and Dennis. After that he quietly exited the room and closed the door slowly.

Woody made his way downstairs and saw the martial arts school students having breakfast at the canteen which was just some distance away from where Woody was. Woody wondered why they had no school.

Jessie was chatting happily with Ricky, Stinky and another guy in Judo attire when they saw Woody at the stairs. Stinky, upon seeing Woody, immediately walked away.

"Hey! Why did Stinky…" Ricky started.

"Shh! Don't talk now! He's coming!" Jessie warned.

As Woody approached the gang, Jessie asked how Davis and Dennis were.

"They're fine." Woody replied. "Probably should recover and back to full shape later today."

"Good to hear." Jessie made a wide smile and nodded.

"Anyway…why don't you all have school?" Woody asked.

"Don't you know?" the guy in Judo attire reminded. "Today is Sunday."

"Right you are, Judi," Ricky scoffed, not liking the fact that someone was right, especially Judi.

"Oh, right…the incident must have made me even forget what day is today. But then again…since today is Sunday, why aren't you all at home resting?"

"Well…we all already know about the incident since this morning." Jessie told Woody. "So that's why we're all here…you know…"

One of the students noticed Woody and shouted, "Hey…there's our masters' good friend!"

Every student turned their attention to Woody upon realizing Woody's presence.

"Right. It is to be expected." Woody changed his attention to the crowd, cleared his throat and began to address the students.

"Listen, everyone. It's very likely you all have heard about the rumours. The rumours are true."

Everyone gasped upon hearing Woody's statement.

"However, their lives aren't endangered, so don't worry. When the two masters recover from their injuries, they and I will make sure that such an incident will never occur again and that we will seek the culprit no matter how long it will take! I can't forgive the culprit that posed serious threats to the two masters and I won't tolerate this!"

The crowd became excited and cheered at Woody as Woody headed back upstairs.

"Please carry on with what you all are doing," Woody instructed the students and he walked up the stairs. "And keep it down so as not to disturb the two masters."

Judi looked at Woody with a totally dumbfounded look.

Jessie noticed Judi's dumbfounded look and asked, "What's wrong with you?"

"Since when does Woody talk so much?"

"I'm not exactly sure…though I'm pretty sure they have a strong bond together…"

The students went back to what they were doing initially while Jessie, Ricky and Judi were still standing.

"I think I'll go find Stinky." Ricky started to make his way.

"Be careful. I can tell he was not exactly in a good mood when he talked to me last night. It could be worst with you."

"I'm aware of his bad mood, but thanks for the advice," Ricky waved Jessie and Judi goodbye as he headed out to look for Stinky.

"Hey, Jessie," Judi began as Ricky disappeared from sight.

"Yes?"

"Do you, by any chance, like Stinky?" Judi teased Jessie and smirked.

"OUCH!"

Ricky went to the backyard of the martial arts school and just as he expected, he saw Stinky sitting under the same tree as he did last night.

Stinky saw Ricky and called out, "Now what is it that you want? You approached me yesterday…I refused to talk to you. Now I'm slightly in a better mood. What's up?"

"Nothing, really," Ricky replied. "Just wanna have a good chat with you."

"Sure thing," Stinky signaled with his right hand for Ricky to sit next to him.

Ricky moved towards Stinky and sat beside him with his legs stretched outwards to the max.

"Shoot what you have to say," Stinky demanded impatiently.

"Okay…it's like this…tell me exactly what happened yesterday."

Stinky started to get back up.

"Get back down!" Ricky yanked him back down to the soft grasses by grabbing his right arm. "You said you are in a slightly better mood today. Then tell me what happened."

"I changed my mind," Stinky started to get back up again.

"Oh no, you don't," Ricky yanked Stinky down again. "Come on! What is your problem?"

Stinky looked away from Ricky and refused to open his mouth.

"The reason why I ask is because recently you seem to be ignoring Woody. Did you have a tiff with him?"

"What's a tiff?"

"A quarrel, man. Don't act as if you don't know that word."

Stinky looked down on the grasses.

"From your body language I can sense that what I predicted is indeed true. How the heck did this happen?"

Stinky's facial expression suddenly turned into a glare towards Ricky. "You really want to know why?"

"Yeah. Bring it on!"

Both Stinky and Ricky stood up. "It's because he thinks I'm a weakling."

"And so? You get affected by this so easily?"

"What are you talking about? I hate being called a weakling 'cause I ain't."

"Well…what makes you think he thinks you're a weakling? Or is this your own assumption?" Ricky stared sternly at Stinky.

"He is a weakling," a voice came from behind them.

Ricky and Stinky turned around and was surprised to see Woody.

"See? Even he admits I'm a weakling."

"You're a weakling because you get so annoyed easily when other people think of you as weak!" Woody yelled.

Upon hearing what Woody just said, Stinky was speechless.

"What's the matter? Cat got your tongue?"

"Sir…" Ricky started.

"Let me explain what happened yesterday, Ricky."

And so Woody told what actually happened between him and Stinky yesterday…

"…so that's what happened." Woody finished.

"I can't believe this," Ricky shook his head and turned to face Stinky. "Why are you so foolish to even challenge Woody as you wish? What Woody said was right. You should stay with Mrs. Sire and not insist on following Woody. You ought to think of others, not just yourself!"

"I know!" Stinky cried. "But I just hate the fact that I'm weak!"

"Are you sure it's just that?" Woody implied. "I think it's more like you hate losing because losing makes you weak?"

"Precisely!"

"That's when you're completely wrong. Haven't you heard of the saying, 'To be great, you learn from your mistakes'?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means if you lose, you would try to understand why you lose. Pinpoint the mistakes you make that leads to your defeat. Only then can you become stronger. Surely you must have heard of that somewhere before?"

Stinky lowered his head. "Come to think of it…I do hear that somewhere before…"

"Please let me be alone for a while. I'm confused right now."

"But…" Ricky started.

Woody stopped him with his right hand. "Let him be," he advised Ricky. "He needs to go through some thinking now. Let's go."

Stinky went back under the same apple tree and sat under it as Woody and Ricky left Stinky to give him some time to ponder. Ricky had one last worried look at Stinky before leaving…

As the sun set, Stinky was still under the apple tree pondering with his head down. Wind blew heavily, causing the tree leaves to rustle. A lot of things were going through his mind. Like whether he was indeed a weakling and that he should give up all these martial art techniques and stuff.

Just as waves of thoughts washed thoroughly around Stinky's brain, a girl appeared, disconnecting the waves.

Stinky looked up and saw that it was only just Jessie. Stinky looked back down again.

Jessie's face showed a purely worried look as she sat next to Stinky.

"Don't be like this, Stinky…you didn't even have dinner today. Furthermore there is school tomorrow. How are you going to concentrate like this?"

"I don't think I'm of any use at all," Stinky groaned. "I don't really do well in studies, my parents aren't rich and wealthy, and now even my martial arts seem to be useless after all this training…" Tears started to flow out of Stinky.

Jessie had never seen Stinky actually cry before and so did not know what was best to console him. All she could do was to look at him with a sad face.

"I'm totally useless! I think I'll just drop school and martial arts and just live as I like until the day I die!" Stinky got back up and was about to run away…run away as far as he could…away from the face of reality…when Jessie grabbed his leg firmly while sitting down, preventing him from going anywhere.

"Calm down, Stinky!" Jessie yelled at Stinky while at the same time thinking, _It's good to be strong._

Jessie got herself up and turned Stinky's body to face her. Stinky's head was down.

"Look at me. LOOK AT ME!"

Stinky slowly raised his head to look at Jessie, with tears flowing out of his eyes. _Very unseen of from a male, _she thought.

"Get a grip of yourself, will you?!" Jessie shook Stinky in an attempt to try to wake him up from his nonsensical senses. "Didn't you hear what Woody said? It's not the end of the world if you fail or lose. You'll just have to learn and recover from your mistakes. Have you completely turned a deaf ear?"

Stinky stared blankly at Jessie. "So you heard us?"

"Of course I…I mean yes. And Woody is not wrong you know. He may not talk much, but his words are never lies!"

Stinky looked on as Jessie continued, "Let me tell you this, Stinky. You're never a failure. You have potential in everything, not just martial arts. It's just a matter of putting effort into what you wanna do."

"I did! I really did!"

"Yes I know you did…but your real problem lies in thinking that losing makes you weak."

Jessie moved her face closer to Stinky's face and gave a close and stern look which Stinky would not forget for a while.

Jessie held Stinky's head and shouted, "Losing DOES NOT make you weak! It only makes you weak when you think of it that way! When you lose, you ought to figure out the cause of your loss and solve the problem from there. Then can you learn from your mistakes and become stronger."

"So does that mean I should lose more often?" Stinky asked.

Jessie slapped her forehead. "Of course not! You should win as many as you can. What I'm trying to say is…if you do lose, you shouldn't stop there and should move on, find out why you lose, find the solutions to the problems that results in your loss, and don't repeat your mistakes again. Understand?"

Stinky thought for a while before replying, "I don't understand everything you say."

"What?" Jessie rolled her eyes at Stinky.

Stinky laughed. "But I do get you point. Now can you first let go of me?"

Jessie saw herself grabbing Stinky's arms very firmly. She blushed and let go. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to grab you so tightly."

Stinky wiped away the tears from his eyes. "But seriously…thank you very much. I felt so much better now."

"Really?" Jessie's eyes beamed even though it was night.

"Yes…thank you…"

"So are you feeling any confident now?"

"I sure am. But I wanna go to sleep first."

"Right…it's getting pretty cold out here too anyway…let's go…"

As Stinky and Jessie headed back into the school, Stinky stopped.

"What's the matter?" Jessie asked.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"You do like me, don't you?"

"OUCH! Hey! That hurts!"

"Serves you right for asking such an odd question." Jessie chuckled.

"I'm gonna cry again!"

"Go ahead and cry. Hehehe…"

Stinky crossed his arms as they continued to quarrel their way back into school.

Up in the window, Woody looked out and saw that Stinky was back at one piece again. Woody made a vain smile before closing the window and turning off the lights.


	9. Chapter 9: Battle Memories of Rudolf 1

**Chapter 9: Battle Memories of Rudolf 1**

An hour before Jessie met Stinky in the school backyard, in the room where Davis, Dennis and Woody were…

"So how are you two feeling now?" Woody asked both of them.

"Much better than before after all that sleep!" Dennis, now in full clothing, stretched his whole body in an attempt to relieve fatigue.

"I feel the same way," Davis, also in full clothing, agreed.

"That's good," Woody breathed a sigh of relief. "So what's the plan now? Find the assassin?"

Davis and Dennis' facial expressions changed from a relieved to a serious mode.

"Now that you mention it…" Dennis clenched his fists. "I just couldn't believe that I couldn't even beat an assassin who seems to act like some Mr. Know-It-All."

"He may be a Smart Alec, but he's not one to be underestimated." Davis warned.

"Still…" Dennis banged both his fists on the springy bed. "I can't believe we couldn't beat him even though he was outnumbered by two to one."

"That's why I told you to strategize first." Davis told Dennis. "But I just know your typical personality. You don't listen when you're pissed."

"You're right…But I just can't stand his damn attitude."

"Ahem!" Woody interrupted Davis' and Dennis' short conversation as they turned to his attention. "Nonetheless we should really strategize. I would like to hear from you guys from your observation of that assassin's fighting style."

"Hmm…" Davis and Dennis tried to recall their battle against Felix. "Felix…" Davis started.

"Who?" Woody scratched his head.

"The assassin…"

"Oh…sorry," Woody mumbled. "Continue."

"Well…I know our speeds are no match against Felix's speed…that includes you, Woody."

"How so?" Woody twitched his right eye.

"His speed reminds me of Rudolf's speed…but Felix is more cunning than Rudolf."

"I see…so Felix is pretty fast."

"Yes," Dennis followed up Davis' statement. "But despite Felix's speed, he doesn't seem to be as flexible as Rudolf."

"Come to recall…" Davis said. "I know Rudolf moves very quickly in battle, since he's a samurai after all. And I know from my experience in our battle when we first met…"

_It all started when I reached the final basement of Stanley Prison as I attempted to rescue all the civilians that were imprisoned here. I had the master key to unlock all the prison gates after bashing up a mere guard who had the key. I was about to unlock one of the prison gates when I heard footsteps behind me. I turned around and that was when I met him…_

"What do you think you're doing?" the samurai demanded. He was a few metres away from Davis. He had his hair tied with a hair band, making a hair tail behind. He wore a blue kimono and was equipped with two katanas on the right side of his kimono. His footwear was traditional Japanese slippers.

"I'm trying to unlock this prison gate," Davis replied.

"I'm not blind," the samurai growled. "Don't you know what the consequences are if you unlock the gates?"

"I don't care about the consequences. Because I know what I'm doing is right."

"A cocky guy…I see." Rudolf grabbed the handle of one of his katanas as he got into fighting stance. "We have met a few times but don't really get to talk much and formally introduce ourselves. Now I shall introduce myself."

"Good idea," Davis agreed. "I'm Davis."

"I'm Rudolf," the samurai followed up.

"Nice to meet you. Now if you excuse me…let me unlock this gate first." Davis went back to working on the lock of the prison gate.

Rudolf instantly became annoyed. "What do you take me for? A fool?"

"Well…since you said that…I guess you are."

"What?!" Rudolf's face turned red as if water inside him had reached boiling point. "That's it. The battle starts now!"

Rudolf dashed towards Davis and when Davis turned around, he was suddenly gone. Not too long later, he sensed the cold feeling of shiny metal on both sides of his neck.

"I know you're caught off guard. And I could have easily killed you right now. But that won't be fun, would it?" Rudolf smirked.

Davis was silent and expressionless as Rudolf jumped over Davis while putting his katanas back into place and turned back to face him again.

"Looks like I don't really have a choice, do I?" Davis put the prison gate key into his jacket pocket and got into fighting stance.

The prisoners groaned with fear as Davis and Rudolf prepared to fight each other.

Davis and Rudolf stared at each other with stern, fiery eyes. The more worried of the two was Davis, because he used to learn in junior high school that samurais usually were very fast and he knew his speed was nothing compared to Rudolf's, so Rudolf had the clear battle advantage.

Rudolf made a vague smile before starting to dash forward at what seemed like rocket speed towards Davis. Davis might know how fast a samurai was theoretically, but he didn't know that a samurai was _this_ fast.

As Rudolf closed in on Davis, Davis almost couldn't react in time and hence only barely managed to shun away from Rudolf, just in time to barely miss Rudolf's fast katana attack.

Rudolf stopped, put his katana back in place, and turned around to face Davis. "Not bad…though I'm disappointed that you only barely dodged my attack."

"Look who's the cocky guy now?" Davis said with sarcasm. "I'm only just warming up."

"Yeah, right…you're more shaking than warming up." Rudolf took a step towards Davis. "I can sense fear in you."

"Bullshit!" Davis cried as he fired a blue energy ball towards Rudolf with his right hand.

Rudolf easily evaded the blue energy ball by dash a few distance away from it. However, just as he thought Davis' attack was over, he saw two more energy balls moving very quickly towards him.

"Eat more of my energy blasts!" Davis roared.

Rudolf tried to dash away again, but managed to only dodge one of the energy balls. The other energy ball hit him, and he got slightly hurt.

"Well…that wasn't so painful at…" Rudolf could not finish his sentence as he saw three blue energy balls flying rapidly towards him.

Rudolf was completely stunned and hence couldn't do anything as all the three energy balls hit Rudolf. The impact of the energy balls was enough to send Rudolf down to the ground.

"This is for spouting rubbish saying that I'm afraid," Davis chuckled.

Rudolf got back up and cleared off the dust accumulated from the ground after the fall.

"I have to admit…you're good," Rudolf praised Davis. "I have definitely underestimated you."

"Now you know," Davis smirked.

Rudolf reached into his kimono and took out a few shurikens. "Since you wanna play ranged with me, I shall play ranged with you too!"

Without any hesitation, Rudolf threw his shurikens very quickly towards Davis. Davis countered by firing energy balls towards Rudolf.

Some of the energy balls hit some of the shurikens, and there were still remaining energy balls and shurikens flying towards Rudolf and Davis respectively. Rudolf jumped to evade the energy balls while Davis tried to jump as well but was hit by three shurikens and fell to the ground from mid-air.

As Davis held his stomach in pain, Rudolf charged forward and laughed. "Trying to mimic me? But you're slower than me, so you don't jump as quickly as me."

Davis became annoyed at Rudolf as Rudolf pulled out his katana and attempted to swing at Davis. Davis managed to react in time and avoided the fast slash of the katana.

The miss of the katana forced Rudolf to jump back and away from Davis.

"Not a bad dodge," Rudolf commented. "But just how are you going to defeat me? Keep on using energy blast?" Rudolf made a wicked smile and charged towards Davis.

Davis narrowly managed to evade Rudolf's katana slash again. From there, Rudolf made similar fast katana slashes and occasionally threw shurikens at Davis and Davis avoided most of Rudolf's attacks, although he did get cut by Rudolf's katana slash more than twice and hit by about five shurikens. On some occasions Davis tried to fire energy balls at Rudolf, but almost all but two of them were easily evaded by Rudolf.

Davis dodged another katana attack as Rudolf jumped back from Davis and landed on the ground to be of a far distance away from Davis.

"I'm surprised that you're still standing despite you getting hit more than me," Rudolf remarked with a vague smile. "Most of your attacks can't even hit me, and those that hit me are nothing more than scratches."

Davis was panting from the repeated evasion of Rudolf's attacks, and he was surprised to see that Rudolf was hardly even panting with exhaustion at all.

_This guy is not just fast...he has good stamina too, _Davis thought. _And he always keeps a distance away from me after a katana attack. _

Rudolf charged towards Davis once more and swung his katana towards Davis. Davis managed to avoid Rudolf's attack again as Rudolf jumped back again to be of a far distance away from Davis.

_Furthermore, my true strong attacks are close-ranged. And my energy blasts alone won't deal significant damage on Rudolf. How am I even gonna hit him?_

"And another thing," Rudolf said as he prepared his next attack. "You're going nowhere if you just gonna dodge my attacks. Eventually the show will still be over for you." Rudolf dashed towards Davis.

_Wait a minute, _Davis thought as Rudolf got closer to him. _Why didn't I think of it in the first place? But…I have to get this right first._

Rudolf was only a metre away from Davis. In an instant, he pulled out his katana and swung it at him. Davis dodged it again.

_Now for the surprise attack, _Rudolf thought as he turned around, ready to pull out his other katana to swing towards Davis. But he was totally caught off guard when Davis fired three blue energy balls towards him. All the energy balls hit Rudolf, causing Rudolf to be stunned for a while.

_Now's my chance! _Davis got close to Rudolf and delivered three punches on Rudolf before punching him two more times to send him up into the air. Then Davis jumped up and sent a hard double-fist punch onto Rudolf, hitting him hard onto the ground.

Davis looked down on Rudolf who was on the ground. "Want to know what happened?"

"Yeah…" Rudolf groaned in pain. "What just happened?"

"From the repeated attacks of yours, you're mainly dashing towards me in an attempt to slice through me with your katana and then keeping your distance from me, preparing for the next attack. You had to get close to hit me and you totally forgot that you can hit me with shurikens."

"So?" Rudolf choked out some blood from the massive combo attack by Davis.

"You said you know my attacking style. But you don't. Anyway when you miss me, your back is turned towards me and that gave me the chance to fire energy balls at you, and then dealing my major punches. Of course I had to do it with perfect timing. And I didn't expect you to turn around and tried to swing me again."

"Hmph. Very clever of you," Rudolf commented. "The reason why I use few shurikens is because I don't feel I need to. I have certainly underestimated you."

Rudolf was still lying on ground as he continued. "However, you're still lucky to have hit me because you wouldn't be standing right now if you didn't carry out your plan with right timing."

"Well," Davis scratched his head. "You can say that."

The prisoners cheered after seeing Davis successfully outwitting Rudolf in this instance.

"I see…so now I know your true fighting style. I won't make the same mistake twice!" Rudolf suddenly vanished from the ground without a trace.

Davis…

"Okay…" Woody interrupted. "You can stop now."

"What are you talking about?" Davis cried. "I'm barely even halfway into my account of my battle with Rudolf!"

"That info you just provided is enough," Woody replied. "Now we have a rough idea on how to counter Felix."

"But…I wanna recall everything about Rudolf."

"By the time you do, it would already be sunrise," Woody said.

"Why, you!" Davis grumbled. "And I thought you're my friend!"

"He's actually right, you know," Dennis agreed with Woody. "I wanna get this over with quickly and go to sleep."

"What? You too?"

"Two against one. You lose." Dennis chuckled.

"Grrr…" Davis crossed his arms. "Don't you all miss Rudolf? I miss him."

"I do miss him…" Woody shook his head. "But this isn't exactly the right time to recall someone because you miss him…"

Davis frowned at Woody and Dennis. "Okay whatever… where were we?"

"Right…" Woody sighed. "Anyway we have definitely heard about how you managed to outwit Rudolf while he charged towards you."

"Yeah…so?"

"That definitely gives us an idea of how the scenario would be like if we…or even one of us meets Felix again and has to engage him in battle." Woody explained. "So we gotta be extra careful when we face off against Felix."

Both Davis and Dennis nodded in agreement.

"For me, I shouldn't have as much problems as you two, because I can teleport close to him whereas you two had to physically get close to him, which could be tough."

"Hmph…you always have the upper hand." Davis frowned at Woody again.

"That's not the point…" Woody stared blankly at Davis for a while before changing back to serious mode. "Anyway Davis and Dennis…the reason why I want Davis to recall his battle with Rudolf is because of this disadvantage. Now that you have heard about how to roughly deal with a speedy enemy, you all should roughly understand."

"Yes, I understand…" Davis turned to Dennis. "I don't think Dennis understands though."

"What do you mean?" Dennis frowned at Davis.

"You clearly lost your temper from the moment you saw Felix multiplying in images," Davis told Dennis.

"But…" Dennis started.

"Yes, I know your feeling… I do have this feeling at times too, but I don't want you to lose temper and get too emotional if you do fight him alone. Nobody can defeat an enemy if his emotions get over him. Do you understand?"

Dennis wasn't completely listening to him, but he nodded. In his mind he was still boiling over Felix's attitude and actions.

"Wait...can you clarify what you mean by multiplying images?" Woody asked Davis.

"Huh…oh yes. Felix can make multiple fake images of himself for a while to confuse enemies. That clearly annoyed Dennis completely and we couldn't figure out who is the real one." Davis replied.

Woody thought for a while before replying, "That shouldn't be a problem."

"What? It isn't?" Both Davis and Dennis voiced out at the same time.

"As long as you stay calm and focus, it's easy to figure out who the real one is," Woody explained before turning to Dennis. "Which is why all the more you mustn't be too emotional."

Dennis clenched his fists tightly. "Yeah, yeah…I know what to do!"

"You better do…" Woody warned. "Or else this Felix guy will be hard to defeat."

Dennis nodded with slight hesitance.

"If only Rudolf is here…" Davis looked out of the window while sitting on the bed and sighed. "It would have made things easier."

"I don't think we'll meet him anytime soon," Woody said. "Anyway I assume you two understand pretty much what I've just said. But I think we don't have to worry too much for now. I believe Felix will be looking for us again."

"You're right," Davis agreed.

"Ok…" Dennis yawned. "Can we sleep now? We have school tomorrow…Oh no!" Dennis slapped his forehead.

"What's the matter?" Davis asked.

"Our school bags are at our house. Don't tell me…"

"Well…you two probably know what to do…" Woody implied. "You'll have to go back to your house early in the morning, get dressed and everything. I'll wake you guys up so don't worry."

"Thanks, Woody," Davis said. "You are the most reliable friend ever."

Woody became annoyed. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"Uh…nothing! Good night!"

Davis quickly lay down on his bed and pulled the blanket over him.

Woody shook his head and went to the open window.

"Are you gonna sleep soon?" Dennis asked Woody as he got onto bed as well. "And where are you gonna sleep?"

"Soon," Woody replied as he looked at the starry night sky. "I'll just sleep on the ground."

"Is it really okay to sleep on the ground?" Dennis asked with concern.

"It's okay. I'm used to it," Woody told Dennis. "Now go to sleep. We're waking up early tomorrow."

Dennis nodded and went to sleep.

Woody looked down from the window and saw a girl pinching a boy as they made their way back into school.

"Back to normal…for now," Woody smiled vainly as he closed the window and turned off the lights.


End file.
